5-10-15-20, part 2 of 4

so pitchfork just started this new feature called 5-10-15-20. they ask some influential musical figure about what they were listening to at the ages of 5, 10, 15, 20, and more, depending on their current age. simple concept, you get it. i thought this would be a creative way to share what albums have had an impact on me throughout the years. of course, at the ripe old age of 22, these 4 milestones pretty much cover the span of my entire life.

i’m gonna do this in 4 separate posts. here we go!

10 years old: 1996-97

hopefully, i didn’t scare you too much with my last post. this one should be more relatable.

i think i’ll separate this by albums and singles. obviously, i didn’t buy alot of cd’s when i was 10 years old; as a matter of fact, i’m pretty sure i was still recording songs off the radio onto cassette tapes at this age. maybe i was a bit behind the times, but you have to consider the city in which i grew up.

albums:

come on over- shania twain

my sister got this for her birthday, and man, we wore this cd OUT! wow, so many winners on this album. “man! i feel like a woman,” “honey, i’m home,” “don’t be stupid,” “love gets me everytime,” and my personal favorite, “that don’t impress me much.” talk about girl power (a little tragic how she was publicly humiliated by her cheating husband. hello, his name was mutt.) this is still the greatest-selling country album of all time. it went platinum 20 times over, and 12 of ths 16 tracks were released as singles. applause for shania, please.

spice- spice girls

you know, i’m really grateful to have lived through the spice girls’ age of cultural domination. i don’t think any musical group has ever swept the world off it’s feet quite like they did. except maybe the beatles or something. music and movie aside, everyone wanted to be a spice girl. within every group of tween girls, each had their own spice identity. girls fought over who would be baby spice (the most coveted position, from what i could tell) and who wouldn’t be scary spice. (duh.) spice was and still is the best-selling album from a girl group ever. i wonder who’s even come close? destiny’s child?

backstreet boys- backstreet boys

don’t act like you’re surprised. this was the first cd i ever bought with my own money. considering that i can probably still sing this entire album from beginning to end, i’d have to say i got my money’s worth. i dare you to tell me “everybody (backstreet’s back)” isn’t the greatest music video ever created.

pretty sure i saw the “making the video” at least 10 times. this album went 14 times platinum. correct me if i’m wrong, but i feel like today’s artists don’t really hit milestones like that anymore. or even the kind of international fame that bsb, shania, or the spice girls achieved at the peak of their careers.

singles: 5th grade was the year of the talent show. it was the thing to do. and of course, lip synching was a legitimate talent. the following songs were butchered and beaten to death by my classmates at oakwood intermediate school. (is it weird that we had separate 5th and 6th grade schools?) click on the song to relive the past!

Okay, I don’t want to fall too far behind on this, so here’s mine. I know the blog owner will be impressed with one of these.

Luckily I was blessed with older brothers and thus, decent music at the age of ten. Like the comment above, I also listened to Counting Crows back in the day. Others include: Hootie & the Blowfish (Cracked Rear View)–who didn’t? The Wallflowers (Bringing Down the Horse), and last but not least Dave Matthews Band (Under the Table and Dreaming).

I remember not knowing how my brothers’ stereo worked, going into their room and turning it on while they were at soccer or track or something after school, and figuring out how to move the track forward to 7. And listening over and over.